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AP PHOTOS: A proliferation of gold mines in Venezuela offers grueling, dangerous work

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

EL CALLAO, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela is known to have the world’s largest oil reserves, but its soil holds another valuable resource: gold. The government in 2016 established a huge mining development zone stretching across the middle of Venezuela to diversify its revenue. Seven years later, there is a proliferation of mines burrowing for gold, diamonds, copper and other minerals.The Mining Arc of the Orinoco is plagued with violence and shrouded in secrecy because many mines operate outside or on the margins of the law. They offer lucrative jobs for ordinary Venezuelans, but conditions are brutal.At an underground mine in Bolivar state, operators use dynamite to loosen rocks some 260 feet ( 80 meters) below the surface, where workers descend daily to toil in oppressive heat with no safety gear.The miners typically begin their day strapping themselves to a thick steel wire, holding on as best then can while dropping about 200 feet (60 meters) down a shaft, entering a world where he...

Riopelle slams 2 homers, Gators top Vandy 6-3 in SEC

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — BT Riopelle hit two home runs, including a grand slam, to lead top-seeded Florida to a 6-3 win over fourth-seeded Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament on Thursday.Riopelle, who had a game-winning three-run home run in Wednesday’s win over Alabama, had a solo shot before his 13th home run of the year made it 6-2.Florida (44-13) advances to a semifinal on Saturday, facing the winner of the Alabama-Vanderbilt loser-out game, which is Friday.Davis Diaz drove in two runs on a groundout in the top of the first and a single in the fifth that tied the game at 2 for Vanderbilt (38-18). Luke Heyman tied the game for Florida with a homer in the second and Riopelle gave the Gators a 2-1 lead in the fourth.Ryan Slater picked up the win in relief for the Gators to improve to 9-0 while Bryce Cunningham (2-3) took the loss. Philip Abner struck out three in the ninth for his third save.Jonathan Vastine had a solo home run leading off the eighth for Vandy.___AP college sports: h...

POLITICO Pro Morning Health Care: WHA wrap — UK trials boost — Cancer Plan project peek

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

Presented by PPTABy HELEN COLLISwith ASHLEIGH FURLONG, CARLO MARTUSCELLI, ELISA BRAUN and JOANNA ROBERTSPRESENTED BY View in your browser or listen to audioSNEAK PEEK— As the World Health Assembly winds down, we look at the latest news out of Geneva.— The U.K. Treasury unveiled a raft of measures designed to boost the life sciences sector, including speeding up clinical trials.— Two years since Europe’s Cancer Plan launched and a suite of projects are now up and running.Welcome to Friday’s Morning Health Care! Today, we say a fond toodle-pip to our brilliant colleague Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif, who leaves us to take up another worthy cause, saving lives as a doctor. She will be very much missed on the team and, I’m sure, among our readers too. Interested in filling her shoes? Drop us a line. Second public service announcement: We have a newsletter holiday Monday, but we’ll land back in your inboxes on Tuesday.Mark your calendars: Our weekly health care calendar lands in your inb...

Celtics continue to stay alive with dominant Game 5 victory over Heat, force Game 6 in Miami

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

When the Celtics fell into a 3-0 series deficit in these Eastern Conference Finals, they looked disconnected. But when all hope looked lost, they stuck together.Their humiliating Game 3 loss could have easily led to a sweep, to a painfully long summer. But they stayed together. The Celtics gathered the eve before Game 4, looked each other in the eye and made sure they were on the same page. One of their assistant coaches put their predicament in perspective.“The seasons are like nine months long, and we just had a bad week,” Mazzulla said of the assistant’s message. “Sometimes you have a bad week at work. We obviously didn’t pick the best time to have a bad week, but we did. “And we’re sticking together and fighting like hell to keep it alive, and the guys are really coming together.”And now, it just got interesting.As slim as their chances looked – facing a task no team in NBA history has accomplished – the Celtics have still believed. They still believed they were the ...

Del Mar personal trainer's trademark challenged by Monster Energy drink

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

DEL MAR, Calif. -- A Del Mar personal trainer has been forced to go up against an energy drink giant. When filing for a registered trademark, Monster Squad Del Mar was stopped by Monster Energy.“I’m not advertising their drinks. No logos, my logo looks nothing like theirs,” said Herman Jones, owner of Monster Squad Del Mar mobile training.Jones is now prepared to fight for his business of more than 20 years after Monster Energy filed an objection to his trademark registration.“This is a big company chasing me for what reason,” Jones said.According to Jones’ lawyer Andrew Dhuey, the energy drink giant has a reputation of going after the little guy.“They’ve done this nine times in the last week. They are averaging about one every calendar day,” Dhuey said.Dhuey said every time a trademark application is filed with the word "monster" or even just the letter “m,” Monster Energy files an objection. Owners of San Diego restaurants charged with COVID-relief fraud “I’ve been watching trad...

Climbers celebrate Mount Everest 70th anniversary amid melting glaciers, rising temperatures

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — As the mountaineering community prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest, there is growing concern about temperatures rising, glaciers and snow melting, and weather getting harsh and unpredictable on the world’s tallest mountain.Since the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain peak was first scaled by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953, thousands of climbers have reached the peak and hundreds of lost their lives.The deteriorating conditions on Everest are raising concerns for the mountaineering community and the people whose livelihoods depend on the flow of visitors.The Sherpa community, who grew up on the foothills of the snow-covered mountain they worship as the mother of the world, is the most startled.“The effects of climate change are hitting not just the fishes of Antarctica, the whales or the penguins, but it’s having a direct impact on the Himalayan mountains and the peo...

Members of polygamous group to appear in court on child sex abuse charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Members of a small polygamous group accused of child sex abuse of underage girls who the group’s leader claimed as brides are expected to appear in federal court on Friday.Sam Bateman and the three women followers scheduled to appear for their arraignment were arrested last year and charged with kidnapping and impeding a federal investigation. Prosecutors earlier this month expanded the group’s charges. Now 11 members of Bateman’s group face 51 felony counts for transporting children across state lines to facilitate sexual activity, recording it, destroying evidence and witness tampering.The group’s appearance in court is the latest development in a sprawling federal investigation spanning at least five states that became public last fall after authorities raided Bateman’s compound in Colorado City, Arizona. The site was long home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, known by its acronym FLDS.Colorado City and Hildale — ...

Rights groups slam severe Taliban restrictions on Afghan women as ‘crime against humanity’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Two top rights groups on Friday slammed the severe restrictions imposed on women and girls by the Taliban in Afghanistan as gender-based persecution, which is a crime against humanity.In a new report, Amnesty International and the International Commission for Jurists, or ICJ, underscored how the Taliban crackdown on Afghan women’s rights, coupled with “imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment,” could constitute gender persecution under the International Criminal Court.The report by Amnesty and ICJ, titled, “The Taliban’s war on women: The crime against humanity of gender persecution in Afghanistan,” cited the ICC statute, which lists gender-based persecution as a crime against humanity.The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from the country after two decades of war.Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, the Taliban started to enforce restrictio...

US, Chinese trade officials express concern about each other’s restrictions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and her Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, expressed concern Thursday about policies of each other’s governments following Chinese raids on consulting firms and U.S. curbs on exports of semiconductor technology, their governments said.The two sides announced no progress in disputes over technology and security but said Raimondo and Wang promised to strengthen exchanges on trade issues.Companies from both sides have been buffeted by tighter official controls on trade in semiconductors and other activity on security grounds. Political relations between the two governments are at their lowest level in decades following disputes over technology, security, China’s territorial claims and Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong and ethnic minorities.Raimondo “raised concerns” about Chinese actions against U.S. companies in China, her office said in a statement. It said they also discussed the trade and investment environment and “areas...

California’s epic melting snowpack means cold, deadly torrents ahead of Memorial Day weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:29 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California rivers fed by this winter’s massive Sierra Nevada snowpack have been turned into deadly torrents, drawing warnings from public safety officials ahead of the Memorial Day weekend’s traditional start of outdoor summer recreation.At least seven people, including two children, have died or gone missing this spring in the grasp of powerful rivers plunging down from California’s towering mountain range, and there have been numerous rescues.“This year we’re seeing higher water, faster water and colder water,” said Capt. Justin Sylvia, a fire spokesperson in Sacramento, which is crossed by the American River.Sacramento has already had 20 water rescues this year, nearly as many as all of 2022, Sylvia said Tuesday as crews practiced swift-water rescues on the lower American River near its confluence with the Sacramento River.Memorial Day weekend is typically one of the busiest, if not the busiest, times of the year, and “floating down the...